Row planter assemblies are designed to plant rows in an agricultural field, with a plurality of parallel rows being planted with each pass of the row planter assembly. More particularly, with the row planter assembly, for each row, a row unit opens a furrow in the soil, distributes the seed into the furrow, and then closes the furrow by pushing soil back over the seed.
The row planter assemblies have a plurality of the aforementioned row units, one for each row being planted. Each row unit has four main components: (i) a pair of gauge wheels which support the row unit on the soil being planted and which regulate the depth of the seed furrow; (ii) a pair of opening discs (sometimes referred to as a “double disc opener”) set at an angle to one another for opening the furrow in the soil, with the depth of the opening discs being set relative to the gauge wheels; (iii) a planter for distributing seeds in the open furrow; and (iv) a pair of closing wheels set at an angle to one another for pushing the soil back over the seeds.
More particularly, and looking now at FIGS. 1-5, there is shown a row planter assembly 1. Row planter assembly 1 generally comprises a plurality of row units 7. Each row unit 7 comprises a pair of gauge wheels 5 and a pair of opening discs 10. Gauge wheels 5 support the frame 15 of the row planter assembly 1 on the soil. The two opening discs 10 of the double disc opener are carried by frame 15 of row planter assembly 1, with the two opening discs 10 of the double disk opener being configured in the shape of a V. The depth of the two opening discs 10 protrude below the depth of the gauge wheels 5 and, as a result, when the row unit is moved across the soil 20, the opening discs 10 form a furrow 25 in the soil. The gauge wheels 5 are positioned on either side of the opening discs 10, in close lateral proximity to the opening discs, and by virtue of their adjustable connection to frame 15, set the depth of the opening discs 10 (i.e., the depth of penetration of the opening discs 10 into the soil 20). A planter 30 (e.g., a seed tube) is spaced just back from the opening discs 10 of the double disc opener and serves to deposit seeds into the opened furrow 25. The closing wheels 35 are positioned at the back end of the row unit, and comprise a pair of angled wheels which close the soil 20 back over the deposited seeds.
As noted above, in order to properly set the depth of the opening discs 10 (i.e., the depth of penetration of the opening discs 10 into the soil 20), it is important for the gauge wheels 5 to be set in close lateral proximity to the opening discs 10. In relatively dry soil conditions, this does not present a significant problem, since the dry soil can move easily through the gap (i.e., the intervening space) between the opening discs 10 and the gauge wheels 5. However, in wet soil conditions, the soil is “sticky” (in the sense that it tends to bind to itself) and there is a significant problem with soil building-up on the outsides of the opening discs 10 and the insides of the gauge wheels 5. To this end, a scraper 40 is typically provided to scrape dirt off the face of opening disc 10. However, when the soil is sticky, soil scraped off the face of opening disc 10 still builds up between the opening disc 10 and the inside of the gauge wheel 5. Thus, the gap between the opening discs 10 and the gauge wheels 5 can become clogged or plugged with mud, which prevents the opening discs 10 and gauge wheels 5 from rotating on their axles. When the gauge wheels 5 stop rotating on their axles, the gauge wheels 5 tend to “drag” across the soil, so that the gauge wheels 5 can no longer reliably set the depth of the furrow 25. Among other things, when the gauge wheels 5 get clogged or plugged with soil in the foregoing manner, the gauge wheels tend to skid across the top of the soil, destroying the seed furrow 25, so that seed is left on top of the ground rather than deposited into a furrow. In this respect it should be appreciated that the depth of the furrow 25 is generally important for proper crop growth. When the gauge wheels 5 stop rotating so that they can no longer accurately set furrow depth, the farmer must interrupt the planting operation, climb down from the tractor, manually remove the mud from the space between the opening discs 10 and the gauge wheels 5, climb back up onto the tractor and resume planting—until the machinery clogs once again, in which case the planting operation must be halted once more while the machinery is cleaned in the foregoing manner.
Planting in wet conditions, using conventional row planter assemblies, is extremely time-consuming and labor intensive. For example, if the operator of the planter assembly is required to stop the machinery approximately every ten minutes and spend approximately five minutes cleaning the gap between the opening discs 10 and the gauge wheels 5, productivity is reduced by 33%. Furthermore, operator fatigue is significantly increased, due to the additional exertion of climbing down from the tractor, manually cleaning the space between the opening discs 10 and the gauge wheels 5, and climbing back up into the tractor to resume planting. This loss of productivity and increase in operator fatigue are significant problems, particularly in certain climates and/or for certain crops, one or both of which may have very limited planting periods.
Various efforts have been made in an effort to keep the gauge wheel free of soil build-up. Many of these approaches incorporate the use of scrapers for scraping soil build-up off of the opening discs. However, this type of solution is not entirely satisfactory, since in many cases the scrapers merely push the wet soil off of the opening discs and onto the gauge wheel, and fail to prevent a build-up of soil in the gap between the opening discs and the gauge wheel. In addition, current scrapers are not entirely satisfactory. For one thing, current scrapers are generally attached to the frame 15 of the row planter assembly 1 using an attachment arm. See, for example, FIGS. 4, 6 and 7, where scraper 40 comprises an attachment arm 42 for mounting a scraper blade 43 to frame 15. This attachment arm can block soil from exiting the gap between the opening discs and the gauge wheels. Furthermore, current scrapers employ a wide variety of different attachment arms for mounting the scraper blade to the frame of the row planter assembly. This can present inventory issues for dealers, since it requires stocking a larger inventory of attachment arms. In addition, the lack of standardization in attachment arms can present serious issues for farmers, since it may complicate obtaining a replacement part if and when a scraper is damaged in the field. It will be appreciated that any delay in obtaining a replacement part can be disastrous if the delay occurs during a critical planting time.